


Listen to Your Heart

by periwren



Category: Real Person Fiction, Sander Sides, Sanders Sides (Web Series), Thomas Sanders, Video Blogging RPF, youtube - Fandom
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Morality | Patton Sanders-centric, hearing impairment
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2019-10-02 09:47:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17262014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/periwren/pseuds/periwren
Summary: Patton has a hearing impairment that the others don't know about - he's deaf in one ear. It's fine. Really.It's just sometimes he makes mistakes when he mishears or doesn't catch what the others are saying but that's okay. They just think it's him being silly Patton. Everything is fine. Really.





	1. Woof-Man

Princey and Logic looked upset as he popped up.

“Patton, what is this? Have you forgotten the discussion we had concerning our coordinated costume choices?”

“You were supposed to be the Wolf-man, Patton. Not some measly mutt.”

_… huh?_

“I am the Woof-man.”

“Did you say “Woof-man”?”

“Uh, yeah. Woof-man.”

“It was Wolf-man.”

“Yeah! Woof-man.”

“Wolfman.”

“Woof-man.”

“Wolfman.” “Wolfman”

_Uh oh – Wolf not Woof – oopsie. Better play this off as silly Patton._

“Are you – are you guys messing with me? Ha, ha.” That’s it just dumb Patton missing the point again, big smile now. They don’t suspect a thing.

Subtly Patton moved to lean closer to the group, as Roman was complaining that he was spoiling their Halloween video. Patton felt his stomach knot when Roman said that – he really didn’t mean to spoil anything.

Quickly Patton was able to distract them away from his costume, so their attention was on Thomas’s scary one. After panicking at the spider on Thomas’s chest, Thomas lifted the mask to show Patton it was just him.

Patton was so relieved, that stupid mask stopped him from trying to lip read.


	2. Cooking is the best

Patton hummed merrily to himself as he stirred the pasta bubbling away on the stove.

“patton.”

Patton loved cooking. It was the best. He loved the way the food tasted, it was always so much more yummier when you cooked the meal yourself. Patton also loved how happy the others looked when they were eating his food – that’s why he always made sure to use as much of his secret ingredient as possible when he was cooking, all the sides could use a bit more love stuffed into them.

“…patton?”

Patton wished though that he could make Thomas take an interest in cooking a bit more once in a while. But he was happy that his son was using the stove much more than he used to.

Patton changed the tune he was humming as he changed the direction he was stirring the pasta. Cooking was like an adventure; you never knew what would happen! Patton only cooked from recipes the first few times he made a new dish. After that he worked from memory; but even then he never tried to force himself to cook the exact way every single time.

His dishes were unique like that, sometimes he would add a bit more of this ingredient or add in a new spice to mix things up. He knew something like this would infuriate Logan but how would he be able to discover if he could make the food even better if he never experimented?

“Hello Earth to Patton!” cried Roman standing right behind him.

Patton gave a startled yelp and quickly whipped around.

“Oh, Roman you startled me!”

“I’ve been trying to get your attention for the last minute but you didn’t hear me.”

“Ah – w-well um I guess I just get so focused and excited about cooking that I’m off in my own little world.”

“Well whatever helps makes the end result taste great. But I just wanted to check that you have the popcorn for the movie tonight or do I need to pick some up while I’m at the shops?”

Patton opened the cupboard to check if they had popcorn. Everything was organised to Patton’s standards – which explains why Roman asked Patton if they had any rather than look for it himself, he would never find it if he did.

“Hmm,” said Patton thoughtfully, “Well we _do_ have some but probably only enough for you and me. Will the others come and watch too?”

“Logan and Virgil will be. Thomas unfortunately is busy with prior engagements. Um and Deceit said that he was totally free … so I don’t think he’s coming? I’ll get an extra box.” replied Roman.

Patton watched Roman leave and turned his attention back to his cooking. But not as fully as before, he was a bit nervous at how Roman had snuck up on him – he wanted to make sure no one else came into the kitchen that he didn’t hear over the bubbling pasta.

He sighed though as he thought about the movie tonight. He couldn’t lie to himself and not say that he wasn’t a tiny bit disappointed that it wasn’t going to be just him and Roman. He loved Logan and his sweet dark son Virgil … but if they were watching too then he wouldn’t be able to sneak the subtitles on.

Patton didn’t know how to explain it – it wasn’t that Roman was dumb or anything. It was just that he didn’t question it if the subtitles just happened to be turned on when they were watching something. Patton didn’t think he could get away with doing that with Logan and Virgil. They would ask _why_ Patton turned on the subtitles. And he _could_ tell them that he wanted to learn some big new words from the movie (that wasn’t really telling fibs – there are always more words to learn) but he didn’t think the others would buy that for very long.

 


	3. Early

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton has trouble hearing Thomas and the others in the living room.

Patton was excited. It was nearly time for another Sander sides video! He knew there would be one because Thomas had actually been planning this video, it wouldn’t be like the sides popping up unexpectedly to help him deal with a sudden emotional issue this time.

Thomas had become a cartoon! And he and the sides were going to talk about the process and just how awesome cartoons were.

In Thomas’s head he had been going over the script for awhile now and what he was going to say and how/when he was going to put in the actual cartoon footage. When he decided to start the video the sides just had to wait for their cue so they could pop up and start talking as well.

Ah, that was it, thought Patton as he heard the word “What” so Thomas must be starting his intro!

Patton jumped up into the living room with excitement “I love cartoo-”

Then his heart sank as he realised no one else was in the room.

“Oh, am I early?” he asked out loud, “Ah, I'm early aren’t I.”

He gave an embarrassed shrug, “Whoopsie doodles, alright, I’m just gonna sink back down. See you all in a bit. Roll title card!”

Back in his room Patton cringed. Please, please, please with sugar on top, let no one have noticed that! Okay, obviously the fanders would have noticed that because he just said roll title card – if Thomas decided to use that in his editing – would the camera even be on right now to film what he just did?

But if Thomas did decide to use it, the fanders would just think Patton was silly and turned up early. They wouldn’t be able to tell he did it because he couldn’t tell when someone was talking in Thomas’s living room vs talking in another part of the mind scape.

Logan, Roman or Virgil must have called out “What” somewhere close by and Patton mistakenly thought Thomas was starting his “What’s up everybody,” introduction.

Patton rubbed his arms nervously and drew in a shaky breath. Calm down, he thought desperately, you didn’t do anything wrong, everything’s fine. Just because you can’t hear properly when Thomas is talking to the others in the living room isn’t the end of the world.

So, Patton waited and waited. Again he thought he heard Thomas start the Sander Sides vid and the others joining in too. But just to be sure Patton did a quick check to make sure the others weren’t still in their rooms.

Yep, all clear, they must be “up” with Thomas, so Patton made his loud entrance interrupting Logan, “I love cartoons!”

“Wow you were late to vlog today Morality.”

“Well I just didn’t want to be too early again.” Oops thought Patton – why did I just say that?

“What?”

“Nothin.” Patton jammed his fingers into his mouth before he said something stupid like this wasn’t the first time he’s been early.

Fortunately, the rest of the video went great. And later when Patton checked to see if people were commenting about his early arrival he was relieved to see that it didn’t make that much of an impact compared to the rest of his performance – thank god he had that potato with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm betting a lot of you will guess what future video I will reference because of this chapter.


	4. Late

Patton collapsed onto his bed. He was a nervous wreck – although he had managed to play it off and act silly in front of the others, all the while internally he was horrified at what had happened.

He hadn’t heard Thomas start his video. Again. But this time it was so much worse than turning up late to the Vlog or those times when he turned up too early. It was much much worse.

He hadn’t heard Thomas start the video and _Deceit_ had taken his place! Deceit had impersonated him and tricked Thomas into thinking that Patton was there all along. Eventually the others had been able to figure out the trick and unmask Deceit but the video was almost over by the time they figured it out! Deceit had almost convinced them to tell lies!

All because Patton couldn’t hear Thomas and the Sides talking in Thomas’s living room properly. Only after Thomas yelled “WHERE IS PATTON!” did Patton rise up and bump into Deceit.

Patton tried to cover up what happened by putting it back onto the others “I don’t understand why you all didn’t call me sooner – here y’all having a big ol’ tea party without me” and threw in lots of silly jokes – “But I’m not a sun, I’m a dad!”

But Patton knew that it was all his fault. He should have been there – he should have heard them! If he was there then Deceit couldn’t have gotten away with it for so long – unless he tried to pretend to be Patton’s twin, although that would have been fun to have a twin and- NO Patton stop it, this is serious! Think about all the bad things that could have happened if you didn’t turn up at all!

Patton wrung his hands nervously and picked up piece of paper sitting on his bedside table. It was an appointment to be booked in to see a specialist – someone to treat his hearing problem and get fitted for some sort of hearing aid.

Patton had been very worried and putting off the appointment. Worried because how was he supposed to hide a hearing aid? The others would see it unless it was a super tiny one – but the Doctors referring him to the specialist said that he probably wouldn’t be able to have one like that, he would probably have to start off with the one that went around the whole ear. But if he got one like that then the others would see it! And then they would know that Patton had problems with his hearing.

But…but if getting the hearing aid made it so he didn’t miss out on important talks with Thomas and the others then it would be worth it. Thomas was the most important person in the whole world to Patton. Thomas wouldn’t mind if his morality had to wear a hearing aid – right? And-and the other sides wouldn’t mind if Patton needed one -right? Patton wasn’t scared of telling them and having to wear one, no not at all-right? Everything was going to be fine-right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to have to start researching the different types of hearing aids and the technical terms for the next chapter aren't I?

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know much about hearing impairment/deafness so I apologise in advance if I make any mistakes in this story.


End file.
